McCaw, Cooper feud over

Crusaders and All Black flanker Ritchie McCaw is pleased at his side’s crushing 38-9 performance against the Reds in the Super Rugby playoff match that took place on Saturday, 20 July 2013.

When asked about what Reds and newly-appointed Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie may have been thinking during the match, McCaw was confident that the New Zealanders got their message across.

“I don’t know what he’d be thinking but he’s got more time to worry about that now,” said McCaw, referring to the upcoming encounter between the All Blacks and the Wallabies on 17 August.

McCaw added that the AB’s would physically dominate the Wallaby pack, therefore eliminating any chances for Reds pair Quade Cooper and Will Genia, if they’re picked for the national side of course.

“There’s no doubt about that. No matter how good your No.9 and No.10 are, if you can’t get go-forward ball or ball they can play with, it’s pretty hard for them to show their skills,” All Blacks skipper McCaw said. “That’s where we dictated…we shut down any good ball they got and eliminated their effect.”

A talked-about element of Saturday’s game was the booing from the crowd towards Quade Cooper, who McCaw has been noted in the media for having an on-going “feud” with, but the Crusaders veteran assures that there is no bad blood between the two.

“Yeah, you can stop writing them (stories) now. It’s something that’s been blown out of proportion if you ask me,” McCaw said. “I’ve always said there is nothing personal there, I respect him as a player, there’s no douibt. That’s all we need to say about it really.”